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| Issue No 116 |  |
19 October 2001 |
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NewsEconomic Management Libs Style: Porkbarrelling And ProfligacyBy Noel Hester
How can John Howard claim to be a good economic manager when thousands of jobs are being lost, taxes are up $600 million, $1 billion has disappeared from the surplus, but there is no money left for schools and hospitals says the ACTU. The Mid-Year Economic Outlook has destroyed Prime Minister John Howard's claim to good economic management and undermined Australians' sense of job security for the future, the ACTU President Sharan Burrow says. Sharan Burrow says the Outlook's figures confirmed that employment growth is expected to fall and unemployment is forecast to rise above 7%, despite Mr Howard's squandering $1 billion of the surplus in less than a year. "Working people are again the victims of Mr Howard's GST and mismanagement. The revised forecast for employment growth is less than half what it was just a year ago," Ms Burrow said. "The expected fall in business investment of 1% is bad news for jobs, particularly the 5% decline forecast for machinery and equipment investment. "The Outlook reveals that over the three years to 2003-04, almost $20 billion has been wiped off future surpluses, with the $22.96 billion forecast at this time last year now reduced to $3.36 billion. "We've had news of another 140 jobs losses from Fox Studios in Sydney, 110 at Commander Communications and 4,000 threatened by airport de-regulation. These come on top of thousands of job cuts announced in the last month alone, including at Ansett, Coles Myer, Daimaru, Pacific Dunlop and Gate Gourmet. "Peter Costello's last budget did nothing for jobs growth. The Howard Government's policies have undermined job security and failed to guarantee employee entitlements. It's time John Howard outlined his plans for reviving jobs growth." Ms Burrow said people could have little confidence that Mr Howard's policies would deliver GDP growth in line with the revised forecast of 3% when last year's result of 1.4% came despite a revised forecast of 4%. Plenty of Dough in the Kitty for the Rich Prime Minister John Howard's promised election policies would deliver tax cuts to millionaire foreign business people while cutting the wages of young workers. ACTU President Sharan Burrow said Mr Howard's policies would widen the growing gap between rich and poor in Australia and ignored the needs of mainstream working people and their families. Mr Howard on Monday promised new personal tax benefits for foreign business people in Australia. Last Friday he promised to extend "youth wages" to more people aged under 21. "It is grossly unfair to give tax relief to business people earning millions of dollars a year while ignoring the needs of working families struggling to keep up with GST price rises on essential household expenditure," Ms Burrow said. "To add insult to injury, Mr Howard is also planning to cut the wages of some of the lowest paid workers in the community - those aged under 21." Ms Burrow pointed to research released last month by the National Centre for Economic and Social Modelling showing wages for the lowest-paid half of Australian households fell by up to $85 a week in the last decade. At the same time, the highest-paid half of households received pay rises of more than $100 a week. An independent survey by Britain's Management Today shows Australian CEOs are the third highest paid in the world, with income soaring by 73 per cent in the last two years to an average $1.3 million, or $25,000 a week. "How can John Howard believe that anyone earning $25,000 a week needs a tax cut," said Ms Burrow. "The widening gap between rich and poor in our community is an offence against Australian traditions of fairness. If Mr Howard is concerned about a fair go for working people he should cancel his promises to cut taxes for the rich while cutting wages for young people," Ms Burrow said.
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   Interview: The Green MachineNick Bolkus outlines Labor's environmental stance and lays down the gauntlet to Bob Brown's Greens. Industrial: Regaining Control France�s 35 hour week stems from the program of the Left coalition government which went to the polls in June 1997 with the policy of �worksharing�. Unions: Home Of The Longest DayAustralia has a dubious new prize to put in its cluttered national trophy cabinet. We are increasingly the most over-worked nation in the world. Campaign Diary: Week Two: FightbackLabor's doing everything to win a normal campaign - but this is no normal campaign. Economics: Who Will Notice When You Die?Johann Christoph Arnold asks whether the anti-globalisation movement is the answer to an epidemic of loneliness. History: American TerrorIncredible revelations about the work of the US National Security Agency through the Cold War years help put the current War of Terror into perspective. International: Global Day of Action In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in the US last week, the ICFTU has announced that preparations for the Global Unions Day of Action on November 9 will go ahead. Satire: World Gripped by Fear as Howard Third Term LoomsThe global community has uniformly condemned the recent terrorist attacks, which horrifically helped revive the re-election prospects of John Howard. Review: FlashbacksCultural theortician Neale Towart consults his record collection in a bid to understand the chaos gripping the earth.
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